a day without a good meal is a day wasted

Those words were spoken by the Chef of one of the oldest restaurants in Paris, that means one of the first restaurants ever in existence . http://www.ovationtv.com/programs/151 But sometimes the meal that makes the day worthwhile is not a meal of food, but a meal of life. For me today, it's the ferocious love of a half grown kitten, the sun and the soil of a warm spring day.

That's not to say that these things are all I desire of life. Sometimes the possibilities of the world seem overwhelming. Even to live an ordinary life in a place where the history and art are as grand as Paris. Or even to live in a city which has one of those great looking markets where you walk by stalls brimming with vegetables, herbs, seafood of the freshest kind. Or to find that thing at which one could be great, stand out from everyone else and change the world. These thoughts torment, tantalize, cause ambition and discontent. I'm not saying ambition and such things are bad. There is no good or bad here, there's just life.

Here is a description of the acupressure point B 47 from A Complete Guide to Acupressure by Iona Marsaa Teeguarden http://www.jinshindo.org/products.htm, The quote begins with the name of the point; "Ambitious Room or Room of Will influences Zhi (human will), ... The character for Zhi consists of two parts. The upper half depicts plants which are growing: the lower half denotes the human heart-mind. The character Zhi may be taken to indicate the will of the heart growing into the world, directed by its own intention. It is human will (Zhi) which enables a person to align his/her heart and will with the will of heaven, and thus fulfill his/her destiny. " This is such a beautiful image, lovely growing plants rising out of the soil of our hearts. Meeting our destiny, by aligning our will with whatever it is that provides us with destiny, as naturally as plants growing out of the fertile ground.

The Tao Te Ching says discontent is the worst calamity. Taoist wisdom would seem to indicate that being content in one's life, whatever life it is, the Tao can be trusted to lead one to one's destiny. I think it's positively un-american to think that one's destiny might be to live a small life at home with one's animals and loved ones, cooking and cleaning, serving one's friends and significant others, and perhaps never making one single significant mark on the world.

You can see my struggles here. That's why I named this blog 'struggles with nothing'. Because truly it's a contentment with Nothing to which I aspire, and many nothings which cause so many struggles of discontent. Aligning one's will with the will of heaven, if that will is destiny, what is there to struggle with?